


Parts of a Greater Whole

by tonia_barone



Series: Fellowship of the Flash [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angry Barry Allen, Barry Allen isn't subtle, Barry Allen's very illegal metahuman prison, Big Belly Burger is the Best, Brownies are the Best, CC Jitters, CCPD, Captain David Singh is a good cop, Episode: s01e08 Flash vs. Arrow, Extended Scene, Gen, Neither is Joe West, Nobody is happy about either of those, Non-canon metahumans, Oliver Queen is not subtle, Poor Captain Singh, Roy G. Bivolo is an ass, STAR Labs doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention, SWAT is hard, Season/Series 01 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-01 03:22:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10913295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonia_barone/pseuds/tonia_barone
Summary: Snippets from episode 1x08 Flash vs Arrow





	1. Lunch Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter focuses on the talk between Captain Singh and Detectives Thawne and West. It also borrows heavily from the show, because lets be honest: the dialogue for Captain Singh this episode was banging, am I right? 
> 
> This fic bunny comes courtesy of [Nevraukowen](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevraukowen/pseuds/Nevraukowen) who wondered what might have happened when the Arrow visited Central City. I hope this answers that question.

“Captain, can I have a few minutes of your time, please?  I have something very important I’d like to discuss.”

David paused in the bullpen, halfway to his office, to stare at Detective Eddie Thawne.  He had clearly just come back from grabbing lunch at Big Belly Burger.  David slanted a look at Eddie’s partner, Joe West, who just shrugged.  With a sigh, David nodded and continued to his office.  “Fine, but I’m eating while you talk.”  He walked behind his desk while Joe planted himself on the couch, and Eddie began pacing.

“Something is happening in this city, and everyone wants to pretend that it isn’t, but it is.”

David didn’t look up from slathering mayo on his burger.  “My boyfriend is insisting that we eat healthier at home, so work is the only place that I can eat what I _like_.  This is the first burger I’ve had this week.  Is there a reason you’re trying to ruin this for me?”

Eddie gave the Captain a disbelieving look.  “Metahumans are ruining this city, Captain!  We need to do something about it.”

He paused as he was about to take a bite of his burger to look at Eddie pointedly.  “I’m sorry, but were you saying something, Detective?”

David could tell that Eddie wanted to roll his eyes, and gave the man points for refraining.  “The Blur, the Flash, the Streak, whatever they’re calling him today, witnesses say he was at the bank this morning.”

David eyed his burner forlornly.  “You mean the bank that lost half a million dollars today?  Where half a dozen people tried to murder each other today.  That bank?  We’ve got a bank robber out there, and you’re focusing on Santa Claus."

Eddie stubbornly continued as if David hadn’t spoken, “I don’t know how he moves so fast from crime scene to crime scene.  Captain, I propose a task force to handle the metahumans threat to this city.  We need to find out everything we can about this menace to society.”

David finally took a bite of his burger.  Oh man, this was the best thing he’d eaten all week.  He loved Rob dearly, the man was the light of his life, truly, but his insistence on rabbit food was becoming annoying.  After savoring the bite for a minute, he responded to Eddie, “You should ask your girlfriend.  She writes fanfiction about him.”

Eddie stared at the Captain, flabbergasted.  He turned to Joe for help.  “Joe, help me out here.”

Joe shrugged helplessly.  “Sorry, partner, but I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was about eight.”

He really shouldn’t be as amused as he was by Joe’s casual dismissal of Eddie’s concerns.  Joe was horrible at discretion at the best of times when it came to the Flash, _except_ when it came to his daughter Iris and her boyfriend Eddie.  _Then_ Joe was a master liar.  David wished he could figure out how Joe could be so cool in this context, but an absolute idiot about the Flash’s identity literally anytime else.

Eddie huffed in exasperation as he turned back to David.  “Sir, we should worry about how six guys—“

David raised his hand to cut Eddie off.  “Detective, let me stop you there.”  He set his burger down and took a drink from his soda.  Mmmm…carbonated sugar-water.  “Until you can provide me with concrete proof that the Flash is a menace, your duty is to work this bank robbery case.  That means dropping this witch hunt on him for now and figuring out how a man makes everyone around him into rage monsters and robs a bank while everybody is too busy trying to kill each other to notice.”

Eddie pursed his lips to keep from saying something he’d regret.  “Yes, sir.”

David waved both detectives out of his office.  “Now get out there and work, and let me eat in peace.”

Joe stood up and clapped a hand on Eddie’s shoulder, “Yes, sir.  Come on, partner.”

Eddie shrugged off Joe’s hand and stomped from the office.

Joe approached the Captain’s desk with a hand held out.  “I’ll work on calming him down and keeping him focused on the case, Sir.”

“You do that, Detective.  Thawne needs to give up his pursuit of fairy tales.”  David glanced out the window into the bullpen and had to fight not to grin.  “Looks like his girlfriend isn’t too happy with him.”

Joe turned to look out the window and groaned.  “Great, just what I need: my partner and my daughter at odds.  Excuse me, Captain.”

David waved Joe off and watched with interest the drama occurring right outside his office.  It was like they believed they were part of a soap opera or tv show or something.  Didn’t they realize there was actual police work going on around where they were having their little tiff?

He took another bite of his burger—seriously, Big Belly Burger was the best!—then turned around to get some files from the table behind his desk.  As he was turning back around, a flash of lightning stole his burger and soda off his desk, and vanished through the door.  David whimpered as he stared at his now-bare desk, “Dammit, Barry.”


	2. Another Day at the Office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CCPD SWAT gets a call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fleshing out Ernesto Certo a little, while showing what happened to him when Bivolo got him.

It was just a typical day at CCPD.  Ernesto Certo was reading an article in the latest Fellowship newsletter when the call came in that SWAT was needed.  It always got his blood pumping, donning the armor and going out.  Not that he needed the armor anymore, but appearances had to be kept up.  He doubted that the Captain would fire him for being a meta, not considering their station darling was a meta. 

Ernesto had the very useful-for-a-cop power of being damn near bulletproof.  According to Doctor Snow, his skin was now like Kevlar—he had been in full riot gear when the particle accelerator exploded—so most things wouldn’t penetrate.  A high caliber bullet still could, but those weren’t actually very common in Central City.  Aside from Doctor Snow and Cisco, the only ones he’d told were the other founding members of the Fellowship.  Other than envy, they’d taken it well.

Ernesto was surprised when he and his team got to the location and found Detectives West and Thawne waiting for them.  “Sir?”

“There’s a possible meta inside.  The plan is to go in and subdue him,” West said.

Oh, this wasn’t going to go sideways on them.  Ernesto withheld a sigh as he checked his weapon and nodded to his team.  He sent two of them around back to cover that entrance and took the last two with him, West, and Thawne.  He took point, just as he’d insisted on doing since the particle accelerator exploded.  Better if Ernesto got shot than one of his men, after all. 

They found the metahuman counting his ill-gotten gains.  West ordered him to grab the man, Ernesto stepped forward, saw a flash of red and then—

Rage.  Anger.  It was so unfair!  Why should he have to hide who he is, because the city hated metahumans?  He was a goddamned cop!  He protected people!  West…this was his fault.  Him and that golden boy, making everyone love him.  He could come out if it weren’t for West.  Come out again, anyway.  He didn’t come out of the closet five years ago just to have to go right back in.  But if West and Allen had just come out and said that Allen was the Flash, the rest of the metahumans in the force could do the same!

West said something, and all Ernesto could see was red.  “You don’t tell me what to do.”  He fired at his team, aiming for West.  As soon as he pulled the trigger, a flash of red filled his vision.  The Flash!  Always getting into trouble!  Ernesto pumped his shotgun, ready to fire again, but instead of the Flash stopping him, he was shot by two arrows and thrown back. 

He landed with a grunt, clear-headed again and grateful for his Kevlar skin as he peered up at the two arrows sticking out of his gear on either side of his chest.  The Arrow?  He was a little out of his jurisdiction.  And of course he’d be here to help the Flash.  Good.  At least Ernesto hadn’t hurt his team.  Allen and the Arrow had stopped him.  He let his head fall with a groan.  Paperwork for this was going to be an utter bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't obvious, Certo was the officer that got wammied by Bivolo in the episode. I actually didn't know that when I made the Fellowship's roster, but discovered it when I was rewatching the episode for this fic. Poor Ernesto.


	3. Making Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity finally meets a member of the Fellowship face to face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just say, again, how obvious the entire superhero community is with their very public meetings and passing of intel? This series is as much a commentary on that as it is on how not-oblivious the CCPD is about their local superhero.

Lin had better things to do, she really did!  There were a dozen pieces of evidence that needed chemical analysis back in her lab, and she had at least half that many reports to write up on the evidence she had already analyzed.  So why was she sitting in CC Jitters pretending to read a tablet while secretly watching Felicity make googly eyes at Oliver frigging Queen?  Oh right, because Felicity said that she had intel on the latest metahumans causing Barry so much trouble, and also she wanted to meet at least _somebody_ from the Fellowship, and Lin was chosen as the least likely to cause the Arrow to bristle. 

What Lin hadn’t been expecting was for Felicity to be there when she arrived, talking with Oliver goddamned Queen.  Felicity had said that the Arrow had intel for Barry, and to meet her at the coffee shop so she could kill two birds with one stone.  So that meant that Oliver fucking Queen was the goddamned Arrow of Starling City.  Amelia and Tom were going to be insufferable over this; they’d called it three months back, stating that the timing of Oliver loverboy Queen’s return and the rise of the Starling City Vigilante were too suspicious to not be connected.

So here Lin sat, waiting for the Arrow and Flash to finish their not-very-secret meeting and passing of intel—Roy G. Bivolo, really?  That was the metahuman’s name?  Oh god, Cisco was going to end up calling him something stupid like Rainbow Raider or Prism, wasn’t he?  Oh god—in one of the post public places in the damned city so she could have a few words with Felicity.

She reached for her coffee, dipping her finger into it out of habit, and waited for the confirmation it was still just coffee, cream, sugar, vanilla, and caramel before bringing the cup to her lips for a sip.  Being able to detect the atomic compounds of anything she touched was useful in that it meant she’d never be roofied again.  It also made her job infinitely easier.  Maybe she should offer to help Team Flash once in a while.  Then again, Doctor Wells gave her the creeps and she wasn’t sure why.

Lin glanced up as Oliver douchebag Queen stood up and went over to Barry.  Perfect.  Queen was too obviously protective of Felicity for her to get another chance, so Lin stood and went over to their table.  She slid into the seat Queen had vacated with a smile, “Felicity Smoak?”

Felicity startled and stammered out, “Y-yes?  That’s me.  I’m Felicity.  And you are?”

“Lin Xu, and Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite of Tolkien’s works,” she said and watched as recognition filled Felicity’s eyes.  “I can see that you’re a fan as well.  While the boys are distracted by machismo, I thought that I would come say hello.  Mr. Queen seems oddly attached.”

“Ollie—Oliver?  No, no, he’s fine.  Really.  He’s just a little…over-protective; I’ve been kidnapped a few times so he’s…protective.  And it is _so good_ to finally meet a member of the Fellowship face to face!”  Felicity leaned over the table, suddenly looking very concerned as she asked, “I heard about what happened to Ernesto.  Is he okay?  Ollie didn’t hurt him too badly, did he?”

Lin raised an eyebrow at the word vomit that came from Felicity.  “I am constantly amazed at how the heroes maintain secret identities with how freely you say their names.”  At Felicity’s panicked look, Lin shook her head.  “As soon as I saw you sitting with Mr. Queen, I knew he was the Arrow; you should not have said that you were here with him.”  She took a sip of her coffee after dipping her finger in.  “As for Ernesto…he’s fine.  His gear stopped the arrows, and there appear to be no lasting effects from Bivolo’s attack.  Captain has him on mandatory medical leave until he can pass a psyche exam, however.”

Felicity sighed in relief.  “Oh good, I’m glad.  Not that he’s on medical leave, of course, but that he’s alright.  That the Arrow didn’t hurt him; he…sometimes doesn’t seem to realize that the cops are good guys, too.”

“Well, I do hope that he doesn’t shoot anymore of my friends.  It doesn’t help his reputation any good,” Lin said with a raised eyebrow.  She was about to say something else, but Oliver ray of sunshine Queen stepped up beside Felicity.

“Felicity, who’s your friend; I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“Oliver!  Hi.  Um.  This is...Lin.  Xu Lin.  She’s a friend I met on the internet.  Lin, this is Oliver Queen…my boss.  And friend!  We’re also friends.”  Felicity smiled nervously at both.

Oliver took Lin’s hand and shook it firmly before saying, “Xu Lin, a pleasure to meet you.”  Then he added in flawless Mandarin, “Do you happen to speak Mandarin?”

Lin raised an eyebrow, unimpressed as she responded in kind, “That’s presumptuous of you, Mr. Queen.  Just because I am Chinese does not mean that I speak Mandarin.”  At his pointed look, she shrugged, but replied in English.  “It just so happens that in this case you were correct.  However, it is rude to speak another language when not everyone present can also speak it.”

The chastisement seemed to just run off Oliver’s back, but he did switch to English.  “Yes, of course, my apologies.  How do you know Felicity?”

“We met on a fan forum for J.R.R. Tolkien’s works.  She mentioned that she would be in town, and we thought this would be the best time to meet, as I am on my lunch break and she is here.”  Lin could see the question brewing in Queen, so she added, “I work for the Central City Police Department as a forensic analyst; a CSI.”

“So you work with Barry Allen,” Oliver not-asked.

Lin refrained from rolling her eyes.  “Do you have any idea how many CSI the CCPD employs?”  But before he could say anything, she continued, “But yes, I work with Allen.  I’m surprised such a personality knows him.  Then again, Allen seems to know all of the famous people these days.”  It wasn’t a secret to the Fellowship about Barry’s mentorship with Doctor Wells, after all.

Oliver tilted his head at that.  “He’s a special guy.”  He suddenly turned to Felicity and said, “We need to be going.  I have that meeting in an hour and Barry says traffic is terrible this time of day.”

Felicity seemed to snap out of the fugue she’d fallen into watching Oliver and Lin’s back and forth.  “Oh!  Right.  Of course.  The meeting.”  She smiled at Lin as she shook her hand.  “It was nice meeting you, Lin.  I’ll email you later, okay?”

Lin smiled warmly at Felicity.  “I look forward to it, Felicity.”  She turned her smile onto Queen.  “Mr. Queen, a pleasure to meet you.”

Oliver heart-throb Queen nodded tightly, helped Felicity down from her stool, and escorted her out of CC Jitters. 

Lin watched them go with a thoughtful frown.  Mr. Queen was more handsome in person than she expected, but his social skills left much to be desired.

“Can I refill that for you, Lin?”

Lin looked over to find Iris West smiling at her, and nodded as she passed over her cup.  “Please, but can I get that to go?  I really should be getting back to the station.”

“One Caramel Macchiato to go coming right up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lin actually is visible in Jitters. She is the woman that you can see behind Oliver before he gets up to shake Barry's hand and offer his aid. I swear, when I created these characters, I did not think that I would find them populating the actual show so closely to the main cast. Particularly Lin, since she's completely made up!


	4. Discretion Is the Better Part of Valor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Joe discuss the Arrow's methods. In the middle of the bullpen. _Again_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It really is a wonder that canon doesn't discuss this. They really should. I didn't realize it until I started writing this series just how often Barry and Joe discuss Flash stuff in hearing range of everyone at the precinct.

Jakob Euler loved his job.  He got to protect people, drive around in a cool car—unmarked these days tended to edge more towards Dodge Chargers than old fashioned station wagons—and he got to fire a gun at idiots on a regular basis.  Not that he was a violent nutjob looking for an excuse to shoot somebody, but he wouldn’t deny that getting to handle a firearm on the daily was one of the reasons he’d joined the force.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all sunshine, roses, and Glock 19s.  Occasionally, Jakob had to sit behind a desk and file paperwork; a lot of paperwork, actually.  To be fair, they warn you about it at the Academy, and they do prepare you for the tedium of it, but nothing was going to make filing reports pleasant.

Except for getting to be witness to one of Joe and Barry’s infamous mid-bullpen chats about Flash-related issues.

Jakob had gone over to get a file from the back table when he noticed Barry walk up to Joe and ask what Eddie was talking to the Captain about.  Everybody now knew of Eddie’s hard-on for getting the Flash behind bars.  It had made all of the Fellowship facepalm in despair.  To say that Eddie wasn’t very popular around the precinct at the moment would be an understatement.  Just at around 50% of the station was part of the Fellowship at this point, but even those who weren’t knew the Flash was doing good and had good intentions, and nobody was pleased that Eddie wanted to put the meta behind bars.  Oh sure, there were a few officers here and there who agreed with Eddie, but they were also the ones with shaved heads and battle flags hanging in their livingrooms.

Well, okay, not _everyone_ with a shaved head was a racist asshat.  Jakob’s head, for instance, was shaved, and he was one of the Flash’s staunchest supporters in the precinct.  The other members of the Fellowship’s founding circle teased him for flip-flopping a lot, but that was just because he could see both sides of any issue.  Issues were never black and white, and the fact that the Flash worked as a vigilante showed that the kid saw that, too.  He wasn’t a meta, but he’d fight for Ernesto, Lin, and Barry’s rights just as strongly as he’d fight for the rights of little old ladies, retired veterans, and ignorant skinheads.  That was his duty as a police officer, and one he was damned proud to perform.

So yeah, overall nobody was pleased with Eddie’s crusade against the Flash, and everybody was talking about it.  Joe and Barry discussing it in the middle of the bullpen barely warranted a raised eyebrow, let alone a divergent in attention from actual paperwork.  No, what made Jakob want to facepalm is when, as they were passing him, Joe flat out confronted Barry about the Arrow attaining Bivolo’s name by shooting a guy in the leg.  Wait.  _That_ was how Queen got the perp’s name?  Lin hadn’t mentioned that in her mass-email to everyone that morning after her talk with Felicity Smoak.  That was going to make the paperwork a nightmare, because they’d have to follow up on it.

Jakob stopped following them when he reached his desk, but they were right in front of Effie’s desk by that point, and it wasn’t difficult to hear them still talking about how the Arrow tortured someone for a name.  Or rather, hear Joe chew Barry out over it.  In front of Effie’s desk.  He wished he could see the look on her face right then.

***

Effie Rand was having a fairly normal day.  She made sure that anyone who came up to the second floor logged in, and she made sure that her coworkers had whatever files they needed.  It was also her genuine pleasure to keep everyone updated on Flash news, and to occasionally modify surveillance tapes whenever Joe and Barry forgot themselves and talked about the Flash at work, or around the bullpen.  That last part of her duties, unofficial though it was, sadly got used the most.  Because Barry and Joe had zero sense of discretion; not one ounce. 

She knew as soon as she saw Barry walk past that she’d need to activate Ms. Smoak’s program.  Sure enough, within a minute both men were walking up to her desk talking about how the Arrow tortured somebody for Bivolo’s name.  Effie gave Joe a flat, disbelieving look at how blatant he was talking about Flash stuff _right in front of her_. 

Of course he didn’t notice.  He was too busy berating Barry in front of her to notice that he was talking about classified, sensitive information in not only plain view and hearing of herself, but of the entire station.

Not that Effie disagreed with Joe, necessarily.  The Arrow _was_ a lunatic, but Barry was also right: he got results.  Joe walked off in a huff, and Barry was just standing there looking like a kicked puppy, so Effie pulled out her emergency stash of extra chocolate chip extra fudge brownies and held the container out to Barry.  “Have a brownie, kid.”

Barry absentmindedly took one and said, “Thanks” before biting into it.  Then he did a double take from his hand, to her, then back to the brownie he was holding.  “Wow.  Thanks, Sergeant.  This is delicious.”

Now the Fellowship had a pretty strict ‘No poking the bear’ policy, but since she’s the one who made the policy, Effie figured she could break it just this once.  Besides, poor kid needed some feeding up, after all, and the care and feeding of the Flash was Tenet Four.  The Tenets trumped any other rules.  “No problem, Allen.  Here, why don’t you take the whole container?  No, no, I insist.”  She shoved the Tupperware container into Barry’s hands.  “Just get that back to me when you’re through.”

Barry clutched the container like it was a precious gift, and mumbled a heart-felt “Thanks” before stumbling up the stairs to his lab.

Effie shook her head as she watched him go.  Poor kid, everyone just beating down on him.  He was going to snap one of these days, mark her words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so nice of the show to be accommodating towards my OCs; popping in random people at just the right points. It's like the show was begging me to write this.


	5. Snap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry snaps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter that pulls heavily from the episode. Sorry about that, but I can't argue with David's fantastic scenes. Which is why I typically try to skirt them. Hope this works.

David frowned as he stepped inside Barry’s lab and found it to be empty.  He should have been there.  David eyed the lab as if it had personally offended him.  He was aware that Barry wasn’t always there.  The Flash had business that occurred during the daylight hours, and David was generally very forgiving of that; not that Barry seemed to be aware of just _how_ forgiving David was.  So if Barry wasn’t here, he must be out on Flash business.  He’d ask Sergeant Rand to let him know whenever Barry returned; she was good at keeping an eye on their wayward CSI.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw Barry exit the elevator.  “Allen.  Where are you with the Bivolo case?”

David was surprised when Barry didn’t even pause to answer him dismissively, “I’m working on it.”

Eyes narrowed, David pressed him, “Care to be more specific?”  Barry just ignored him and headed for the stairs up to his lab, so David picked up his pace.  “How about you answer me when I ask you a question?”  What the hell was going on?  Barry was normally very polite and deferential with David, even on his ‘bad’ days.

Barry surprised him by spinning around on the stairs to yell at him.  “Hey!  How about you back off?”

David stared at Barry with wide eyes.  After a moment, he use brought out his ‘don’t fuck with me’ voice and asked, “ _Excuse_ me?”

Barry actually had the gall to stalk down the stairs toward David as he said, “Look, I work just as hard as _anyone_ else in this building.  I don’t need you constantly berating me to do my job.  When it’s done, you will have it, all right?”

Something was wrong.  There is no way on this planet that Barry Allen would _ever_ speak to David Singh that way.  Still, they were drawing a crowd of not-very-subtle officers.  Before David could draw breath, Joe thankfully intervened on Barry’s behalf.

“I’m sorry, Captain, Barry’s having an allergic reaction to bad medication.”

David gave Joe a look at that.  They both knew that was bullshit, but clearly the man was trying to save his foster son from getting fired, so David allowed it with a parting, “You remind him who answers to who” before walking back to his office. 

Once there, David thought about that encounter again with a small frown.  Barry was clearly agitated, uncharacteristically aggressive, and confrontational.  The man was the embodiment of a human puppy dog; none of that behavior fit Barry’s profile.  The only explanation was that he’d somehow gotten affected by Bivolo.  He couldn’t think of a worse explanation.

David stood, left his office and reached Sergeant Rand’s desk just in time to see Barry shove Joe, scream something about his father, and stalk off.  David reached out a hand to grip Effie’s desk hard.  Before Barry left, his eyes had flashed red.  “Fuck.”

***

To say that Effie was shocked by what was happening in front of her desk would be an understatement.  First Barry—sweet, kind, puppy dog Barry—snapped at the Captain.  Barry was lucky that the Captain was so lenient with him, because anybody else would have fired him on the spot for talking to a superior that way.  She watched Captain Singh go to his office, then turned her attention back to the train wreck happening just feet from her desk. 

Joe was clearly trying to keep Barry under control, using every technique they were taught to deescalate a situation, but to no avail.  If anything, the attempt to handle Barry seemed to enrage him further.  She never would have suspected that Barry was capable of the rage he was showing here, if she hadn’t seen it with her own two eyes. 

Captain Singh came to a stop next to her desk, then gripped the edge as he watched the end of the confrontation.  She saw the same thing he had, and quietly agreed with his heartfelt sentiment.  Silently, she reached for her secondary brownie stash and held the container out to him.   

The Captain took a brownie and bit into it, clearly not paying any mind to what he was actually doing.  At least, not until he actually tasted it, then he looked down at the brownie in confusion.

“Chocolate helps in high stress situations, Sir.”  Effie took a brownie out for herself then tucked the container away.  “Since we can’t actually drink on the job, this is the next best thing.”

David nodded solemnly.  “Too right, Sergeant; thank you.  I’m going back to my office; let me know if something else develops.”

Effie watched the Captain walk away and turned back just in time to see Joe walk dejectedly to the elevator.  He was heading out to warn Team Flash, no doubt.  She really hoped they found a way to cure Barry before he did something he’d regret, or before the Arrow did something _he’d_ regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How David didn't snap and fire Barry during that scene, I have no idea. The only possible reason for why he didn't was that he knows Barry's the Flash and cuts him slack. 
> 
> Anyway, one more chapter to go, folks!


	6. After Action Report

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drinks after everything is said and done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter, folks. Hope you've enjoyed the ride!

“Are you sure you’re alright to come back, Ernesto,” Effie asked as she laid a hand on his arm.

Ernesto hesitated then nodded.  “Yeah, I’m sure.  I mean, I knew things like this were a risk when I signed up for the badge, ya know?”

Amelia Sanchez let out a snort into her glass.  “I don’t think they quite covered metahumans at the Academy, Ernie.  Unless they changed the curriculum a _lot_ since I went through.”

“I’ve told you before: don’t call me Ernie.  I’m not a yellow muppet.” 

Michael Filch chuckled as he teasingly pulled on Ernesto’s hair.  He dodged Ernesto’s attempt to swat at him; the kid was real particular about his hair.  “Yeah, you are, kid.  Cute and adorable, that’s you.  Only one more cute and adorable than you is Barry Allen.”

Ernesto smacked at Michael’s hand as the other man attempted to ruffle his hair.  “Hey, no I’m not!  You take that back.”

“I don’t know, I think you look like an Ernie,” said Calum Wiere before taking a bite out of the buffalo wing in his hands.

“I see how it is.  Fine.  See if I step in front of a bullet for any of you ever again.”  Ernesto flicked a french fry at Calum, who just shrugged and ate it, then looked around at everyone.  “So, we didn’t capture Bivolo.  He’s not still on the loose, is he?  Cause I gotta tell ya, I have no desire to be whammied by that man again.  The hangover afterwards wasn’t fun.”

“Felicity emailed me yesterday to let me know that Bivolo was taken care of,” Lin said with a small frown.  “I am not sure how I feel knowing that the Flash has a private prison for the metahumans that he encounters.”

Jakob Euler shook his head as he asked, “What can we do about it?  Iron Heights isn’t built to deal with metahumans.”

“It could be.”  Otto looked around at everyone’s suddenly curious looks.  “If we bring it up to the Captain, I’m sure he’d see to it that a new wing got built to hold them.”

“They’d have to work with STAR Labs, though, and Doctor Wells isn’t known for playing well with others.”  Amelia held up her hands defensively.  “Hey, I agree with you one hundred percent, but there’s no way it’s getting done without STAR Labs backing it, and I just don’t see that happening any time soon.”

Everyone mulled over that for a few minutes.  Lin wasn’t wrong; it rankled with everyone, that STAR Labs had a private metahuman prison that they just tossed the bad guys into without trial.  Hell, nobody even knew what the conditions for the prisoners were like.  Not that they thought that the gang at STAR Labs was purposefully torturing people, but it was very easy for something like that to get out of hand quick.

“I’ll bring it up with Captain Singh on Monday.”  Effie held up her glass.  “Now let’s do what we came here to do, and celebrate Ernesto passing his psych eval and coming back to work next week!”

Cheers went up around the table.  It was late in the night before anyone went home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that for Parts of a Greater Whole. I know for a fic that was nominally supposed to be able CCPD's reactions to learning Oliver Queen was the Arrow it was very light on both, but the fic wouldn't cooperate. Just know that whenever some outrageous Arrow news comes in from Starling City, the CCPD collectively gets a "what the fuck?" look and shakes their head at the thought of that brainless playboy actually being a tactical genius and hardened superhero. They actually take it in stride, because they've had time to get used to gentle puppy-marshmallow Barry Allen being kickass and assertive Flash. 
> 
> And no worries, I _am_ working on the Singularity fic, but I'm trying to figure out how to make it not a monster of a fic and still keep with the premise of this series, so it'll be a little while. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone for sticking through this thing, and all the kudos and comments. I really appreciate them.

**Author's Note:**

> I already have several other scenes for this episode written, but I've decided that it makes more sense to post them as chapters so that's what's happening. Okay, I'll be honest: I also wanted to toy around with a chaptered fic. See how it works and all that, and this was a good test case. I've also decided that I'm gonna space these out so I'll be posting one chapter a day until I get them all out. I have four, maybe five, other parts plotted out and two of them written, so that should keep everyone busy for the next week.


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